What Hope Hicks knows: The departure of the Trump whisperer has left the White House in even deeper chaos — which surely pleases some outsiders angling to get back in. Why Trump slayed his own masters of the universe: Trump vowed to bring business acumen to the White House — he just didn’t like it when the ideas came from someone else. When the leader of the free world is an ugly American: The president isn’t breaking with tradition — he’s exhibiting all of his country’s worst instincts. Trump’s firings signal hawkish turn on North Korea and Iran.

Retired four-star Army general Barry McCaffrey: Trump “serious threat to US national security”. What “law and order” means to Trump: It is about the preservation of a certain social order, not the rule of law. Is America on the verge of a constitutional crisis? As the Trump presidency approaches a troubling tipping point, it’s time to find the right term for what’s happening to democracy.

Mike Pompeo hasn’t merely consorted with anti-Muslim bigots — he has echoed their arguments. “You're looking handsome, Larry”: How the reality TV president found the perfect idiot to be his chief economic adviser. Presidential ratings are flawed — which makes it hard to assess Trump.